A Saskatchewan farm boy struggles to coexist with his moody father, who considers humanity a plague of locusts. A mother and pregnant daughter-in-law quibble over a pie but later unite in parenthood's greatest tragedy. A young girl moves to her grandparents' farm after her parents divorce and realizes that the future rests in her own hands. A daughter recounts her depressive mother's childhood while drowning in bitter grief.
The characters in "Mennonites Don't Dance" authentically and fully integrate with their settings; they define themselves by land and climate but also by familial expectations. Certainly, patriarchs rule these families but the author portrays mothers and children with equally arresting clarity.
Darcie Friesen Hossack prose is mesmerizing and ingeniously understated. She maintains strict narrative control while combining clean images with plot elements of both surprise and inevitability. As a result, the reader experiences authentic sentiment throughout this collection, which succeeds in maintaining structural depth, psychological intricacy and stunning emotional impact.
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